ESIC banned five NOMERCY players for throwing matches to cash a parlay. One of them got a lighter sentence for cooperating, then posted his cars online and got banned for life the next day.
Wherever there’s competition, there’s someone trying to cheat it for a quick buck. As we know all too well, Counter-Strike is no exception.
Last week, ESIC took another swing in its fight against match-fixing, handing down bans to five NOMERCY players following an investigation into their participation in ROMAN Imperium Cup VII back in March.
The team’s plan - if you can even call them that - was to lose all four BO1 matches, and lose each one by more than 9.5 rounds, to cash in on a four-leg parlay. Unsurprisingly, the dimwits were about as discreet as a fire alarm, and the tournament organisers caught on from the very start, feeding everything straight back to ESIC.
The regulator’s punishments ranged from a lifetime ban for kzy, the leader of the operation and best known for a brief stint on MOUZ back in 2014, to five- and three-year bans for the rest of the roster.
One of the players on the softer end of the hammer was playN, thanks to his “detailed responses, financial and communications production, and continued engagement”. And oh boy, was he committed to that engagement.
Right after the ban was announced, the bozo thought it was a good idea to start flexing the cash and cars he supposedly earned through match manipulation, boasting that he’d be back in 2029 to fix even more.
Naturally, being the proud owner of an IQ that hovers around room temperature on a chilly day, playN didn’t really stop to think about how the posts might affect his already precarious situation. Sure enough, 24 hours later, he got smacked with an update to his sanction, turning it into a lifetime ban.
In our humble opinion, only the guillotine would be a fitting punishment for players so pathetically bad that the only way they can make money from the game is by throwing matches.
Seriously, no mercy for these clowns.
